Due to the limited supply of gasoline and its corresponding high cost, the importance of minimizing fuel waste in vehicles has taken new dimensions in recent years.
Presently automobiles waste fuel in several ways, some of which are:
The object of the present system is to provide a system which will eliminate the above and other inefficiencies.
The advantages of regenerative braking, intermittent engine operation at an optimal speed and an infinitely variable transmission, as well as the value of these features to the fuel economy of a vehicle, are all known. Buses equipped with hydrostatic regenerative braking have shown a 30 percent reduction in fuel consumption in actual road tests conducted in the U.K. by the National Engineering Laboratory (please note reference No. 2). Intermittent optional engine operation in city traffic can further reduce fuel consumption by about the same amount in slow urban traffic (please note reference No. 5). However, to date, no system has been built that would provide these features without introducing undesirable and intolerable side effects of cost, complexity and bulk.